In the year 2012, the foremost collector of alien artefacts is the wealthy
Henry van Statten. The TARDIS is drawn to his underground museum by a
distress call from van Statten's latest acquisition... which, to the
Doctor's horror, turns out to be a Dalek. The creature is badly damaged
and initially powerless, until it is inadvertently freed by Rose and Adam
Mitchell, one of van Statten's brilliant young researchers. As the Dalek
rampages through van Statten's compound, Rose finds herself developing an
eerie connection with the murderous creature.

Production

Robert Shearman's writing career began in the theatre, where he was the
recipient of several awards. He eventually parlayed this success into
assignments for BBC Radio 4, and then an episode of the television drama
Born And Bred. Shearman's name first came to the attention of the
Doctor Who community in 2000, when he scripted the offbeat,
critically-lauded The Holy Terror for Big Finish Productions'
series of Doctor Who audio plays. Shearman continued his
association with Big Finish, writing further stories including The
Chimes Of Midnight, Scherzo and Deadline.

It was his 2003 Sixth Doctor play Jubilee, however, which brought
him to the attention of Russell T Davies, executive producer of the
revived Doctor Who television programme. Davies had begun to
envisage a backstory to the new series in which the Daleks were
responsible for the destruction of the Time Lords; he also wanted to
spotlight the Doctor's archnemeses in an adventure which would reimbue
them with the menace they had possessed upon their introduction in
1963's The Daleks. Davies felt that a story
mirroring Jubilee -- which featured a lone Dalek, held captive on
Earth for decades, who nonetheless manages to pose a grave threat --
would be a suitable vehicle for the creatures' resurrection.

Russell T Davies wanted a story which mirrored Jubilee, Robert Shearman's Sixth Doctor audio
play

Davies therefore drew heavily on Jubilee in his autumn 2003
Doctor Who pitch document to describe an adventure called
“Return Of The Daleks”. Eschewing the audio play's setting of
an alternate-universe Britain, Davies set the story in 2010 Utah (later
shifted to 2012) and introduced the Dalek's captor, whom he facetiously
christened “Will Fences” in joking allusion to Microsoft
founder Bill Gates. Davies also described another new character, a
“whizzkid” named Adam, who would join the TARDIS crew at the
episode's conclusion after Rose develops a crush on him.

Shearman then took over writing the adventure under the title
“Creature Of Lies”. He gave the “Will Fences”
character the name Mr Duchesne, but Davies was concerned that this was
too difficult to pronounce and so changed it again to Henry van Statten, a
name he had also used in his series Mine All Mine. Shearman made
reference to Jubilee actor Kai Simmons in naming van Statten's
sadistic lackey, while Goddard was the surname of Shearman's wife, Jane.
The writer briefly considered making Adam the son of van Statten.

Unfortunately, Davies' and Shearman's plans were crippled with the
announcement on July 2nd, 2004 that negotiations between the BBC and the
estate of Dalek creator Terry Nation for the use of the monsters had drawn
to an unsuccessful conclusion. The BBC claimed that Nation's estate was
demanding too much editorial control over the relevant scripts. Nation's
agent, Tim Hancock, argued that the BBC were deviating too greatly from
Nation's concept of the Daleks, and also complained that the BBC had been
permitting the use of the Daleks in various productions -- including a
cameo appearance in the 2003 feature film Looney Tunes: Back In
Action -- without his consent.

With little alternative and time running out, Davies offered Shearman a
new monster he had been devising -- a spheroid creature akin to a
sadistic child which was actually a mutated version of humanity from the
end of time -- to replace the Daleks. (Shearman ironically dubbed this
draft “Absence Of The Daleks”.) Fortunately, the situation
was resolved a month later: on August 4th, it was revealed that a
last-minute deal had been reached between the BBC and Nation's estate.
Thereafter, the script gained its final title of Dalek at the
suggestion of executive producer Julie Gardner (who also requested the
appearance of a Cyberman helmet in the story's opening scene).

The Dalek's appearance would provide a mid-season
resurgence of publicity

The director assigned to Dalek was Joe Ahearne. Ahearne had earned
directing and scripting credits on series such as This Life and the
vampire miniseries Ultraviolet. More recently, he had helmed
episodes of the supernatural programme Strange. Ahearne was
assigned to the season's third production block, which also included Father's Day; the intervening episode, The Long Game, was also meant to be part of
Block Three but was deferred due to its substantial special effects
requirements. The mid-run positioning of Dalek was intentional on
Davies' part. The BBC had originally encouraged him to reintroduce the
monsters in the series' premiere episode, but Davies felt that the Dalek's
appearance would provide a resurgence of publicity to help ward off the
inevitable drop in viewership halfway through the season.

To play the new companion, Adam Mitchell, Ahearne secured the services of
Bruno Langley. Langley had made his mark playing Todd Grimshaw on the soap
opera Coronation Street, and had only recently ended his tenure on
that programme in a blaze of publicity -- his character had been revealed
to be gay, the first time a homosexual had featured on Coronation
Street. Langley's casting was revealed in the press on October
7th.

Production began on October 25th, with an unused area of the National
Museum of Wales in Cardiff dressed as van Statten's exhibit room. Focus
then shifted to the major location for the episode -- Cardiff's Millennium
Stadium, where most of the compound's interiors were filmed. Work took
place at the stadium beginning on October 26th; the appearance of a
“Jubilee” pizza box in one of the scenes recorded on this day
was another allusion to the story's source material. Taping continued
until November 3rd, breaking only on Hallowe'en. The remainder of
Dalek was completed in the studio at Unit Q2 in Newport. This
included material in the lift and in van Statten's office on November 4th,
5th, and 8th; sequences set at the bulkhead and in Adam's workshop on the
23rd; and finally various pick-up shots on the 26th.